Enterprise-wide daily transactions are difficult to manage due to their complexity and scope in terms of rendering services to their clients. As a result, many organizations employ Information Technology (IT) to manage their enterprise-wide transactions and to ensure quality of services. IT, when properly selected and implemented, helps organizations increase their efficiency and capabilities which improves the organization's competitive advantages.
Information systems (IS) are defined as IT systems that combine computer hardware, communication technology, and specialized software designed in order to handle the information related to business processes within an organization or across multiple organizations. Information systems are usually used to coordinate the work of different organizational functions, from back office administration support, to organization strategic core systems.
In spite of the importance of IT/IS to organizations, the implementation of large information systems is still considered as a complex and risky exercise which leads to several problems concerning budgets, quality, and time schedules. In fact, studies have found that IS project failures are very common. For example, some IS projects fail as a result of poor knowledge management, poor project management, inadequate reuse of past experiences and lessons learned, and/or insufficient understanding of the technology and its limitation. Other reasons might include the lack of consistency in management, the lack of formal tracking, and the lack of functional user involvement. Moreover, some organizations lack the methods, skills, and tools required for selecting the right portfolio of IT projects that match the vision of the organization. In fact, some organizations tend to repeat the same mistakes too often, particularly in terms of knowledge transfer from past projects.
One example of an IT project application to be deployed is an Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) application. ERP is an industry term for integrated, multi-module application software packages that are designed to serve and support multiple business functions. An ERP system can include software for manufacturing, order entry, accounts receivable and payable, general ledger, purchasing, warehousing, transportation and human resources. Evolving out of the manufacturing industry, ERP implies the use of packaged software rather than proprietary software written by or for one customer. ERP modules may be able to interface with an organization's own software with varying degrees of effort, and, depending on the software, ERP modules may be alterable via the vendor's proprietary tools as well as proprietary or standard programming languages.
ERP systems are typically integrated software applications that perform business functions such as accounting, production scheduling, customer information management, human capital management, etc. They are frequently implemented on servers and simultaneously provide services to a large number of users, typically over a computer network. These systems are in contrast to the more common single-user software applications which run on a user's own local computer and serve only one user at a time. Typically, the ERP systems are implemented as a group of software modules sharing a common database. Examples of a ERP systems include a Customer Relations Management (“CRM”) system and a Manufacturing Resource Planning (“MRP”) system.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described herein above.